Today’s ever-changing digital landscape presents a wealth of opportunity as well as new challenges for brand marketers. The problem is that the rules of content creation have changed. In the past, writing a 500-word blog post with keywords and hyperlinks was sufficient to generate or convert leads. The good news is the basic components of a good story remain the same. However, the process of telling it in the digital age has evolved considerably as new technologies have emerged. As more organizations create more online content, it will become more and more difficult to establish meaningful connections.

According to eMarketer’s 2018 B2B content marketing report, 84 percent of U.S. companies with at least 100 employees and that distribute non-promotional content for marketing purposes will utilize digital content marketing next year. There is no doubt that this revelation will inspire brand marketers to find more creative and innovative ways to cut through the online clutter to maintain their target audiences’ attention in 2019.

“For B2Bs, content is a vehicle to engage their audience of prospective buyers and customers across the life cycle,” Jillian Ryan, senior analyst at eMarketer said on the website. “When planned strategically, content can work hard for B2Bs throughout the funnel. For example, it can serve as an awareness building mechanism to bring new decision-makers into the fold through lead generation. But it also has the ability to educate and enable existing customers.”

In March 2018, The Manifest conducted a survey of 501 U.S. digital brand marketers and found 22 percent of respondents said their content marketing improvement goals include more original content and visual components. Check out the infographic below from eMarketer that provides an overview of their online competition: